Sunday, 18 November 2018

Rock 'n' Roll in Minnesota, with his next appearance being THIS Saturday in Woodbury, at the Sound+Vision MN Pop Culture Collectibles Show.…

We attended the Sound+Vision Pop Culture Collectibles show at the Valley Creek Mall in Woodbury, Minnesota, on Saturday, November 17. The show is free and takes place three times a year (Spring, Summer, Fall).

I am only guessing, but about 25 dealers line up along the hallway of Woodbury’s only indoor mall, Valley Creek Mall, from one end to the other. There was great foot traffic, with some people going to the show intentionally and some people there by happenstance.

Dealers sold everything from comic books to music (vinyls were the most popular), toys, sports cards/memorabilia, original art, movies, etc. If you collect something, chances are you might find it at the show. Prices were reasonable, nothing more than what you would pay full price.

The best part of this show is that every hour there were prizes given out. We like free stuff, so were pretty excited to see some free promotional items like posters (Ant-Man and the Wasp, plus various others), pencils (Sorry to Bother You), upcoming movie passes (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), movie downloads (Incredibles 2), shot glasses (Atomic Blonde), T-Shirts (Skyscraper and a few others that were snatched up before I saw it)… plus many others that I’m forgetting or never saw.

The next Sound+Vision will take place on a Saturday in Spring 2019 from 9am to 3pm. Date to be announced on soundvisionmn.webs.com.

Saturday, 17 November 2018

Pathfinder: Kingmaker is not out yet, but I was so excited about this game coming out on GOG that I pre-ordered it. This game is based on the Pathfinder tabletop game, which was and offspring of Dungeon and Dragons…

Ever since the arcades went away, I’ve always wanted my own personal arcade cabinet. A few weeks ago, I saw these Arcade1Up boxes at Walmart, and looking at the box art, they appear to be “full sized” cabinets for $300!

After doing more research and contemplating on the pricing, I’ve decided that it’s actually a good deal to buy a Street Fighter 2 cabinet.

Putting the cabinet together was pretty easy to follow, thanks to the pre-drilled holes and easy-to-follow instruction book. All the parts are clearly labeled, and anyone with a Phillips screw driver can put it together in under 30 minutes.

Some minor complaints:

The ball joystick could be like later generation Street Fighter 2 fight sticks that I remember (they were more sensitive to movement and was a little taller).

The other complaint is that it’s actually not a full-size cabinet, but rather a 3/4 scale. To solve these complaints, Arcade1Up actually released a branded riser to lift the cabinet up to about five feet… which will set you back about $40-$80, depending on where you buy it.

Some praises:

The artwork is beautiful and high quality. It’s brand new and faithfully reproduced from the original Street Fighter 2 cabinets by Capcom.

Joystick and six buttons configuration - it’s how SF2 was meant to be played! Spacing is good, and includes a second six button for a challenger!

After some research, I found out that the suggested retail price to these cabinets are $400. Most stores were pre-selling them at $400 (originally published pricing of $500), but then Walmart announced they were selling it at $300 - forcing the other stores to match the $300 price. I wish they were cheaper, but you have to think that the margin is already thin at $300 if the markup price was originally $400 or more.

I do have my eye on the next Capcom cabinet (Final Fight, Ghost n Goblins, Strider, and 1944: Loop Master)…. And I also want both the Galaga cabinet (Walmart is selling these for $250 as a Black Friday sale) and Pac-Man (for the classic artwork).

We got the announcement that legendary “superpicker” Roy Clark has died at the age of 85 due to complications from pneumonia at home in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

He’s probably best known for the being the host of the longest-running syndicated show in television history Hee Haw, even though he was already famous being for being one of the first cross-over pop and country musician.

He was always smiling, and the reason why: “A TV camera goes right through your soul. If you’re a bad person, people pick that up. I’m a firm believer in smiles. I used to believe that everything had to be a belly laugh. But I’ve come to realize that a real sincere smile is mighty powerful.”

The crowd at the music stage began swelling very early on, as local favorites Hippo Campus played first, with a spirited 40 min. set that included new single, ‘South’ (EP out Oct 2 on Grand Jury Records)
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Local favorites Hippo Campus will be playing a double night at the Palace this November 23-24. The band just released their sophomore album Bambi.

We’ve seen the band several times, including one from March 2017, and we can safely describe them as simply amazing: “As soon as the band took the stage, a hundred cellphones went up in the air to record every moment of the band.”

Other local favorites Now, Now will open. We last saw them at Basilica Block Party 2018 and said, “The indie-rock band has very positively grown since their earlier days (with …”Every Children” in their name) and the somewhat dour but bright-pink haired Dalager was seen with a big smile of her face in the late afternoon sun, as she and bandmates walked in unison with guitars.”

The Saturday show is sold out, but there’s still a few tickets left for Friday night.

Look, you know we love our WWF (later changed to WWE, no thanks to the World Wildlife Fund). We grew up watching Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Bobby “the Brain” Heenan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, and, of course, Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Jake the Snake will be at the Cabooze on Friday, telling stories about his wrestling days and holding a Q&A.

The poster also promised “a night of comedy”.

Details:

Jake "The Snake" Roberts - Dirty Details Tour at The Cabooze

$20 Adv • $25 Day of
$50 General Admission + Meet & Greet

WWE's Jake "The Snake" Roberts brings his Dirty Details Tour - Tales from the Pit to The Cabooze!

This uncensored night of comedy and stories from the road will forever change how you look at the glory days of WWE.

Novo Amor (aka Ali Lacey) is touring in support of the debut album Birthplace (AllPoints Records).
His entire US tour is sold out.

Also, if you’re planning on picking up the vinyl version, you might be interested to know that the album was made from recycled vinyl pellets off cut from other records (meaning that each record is its very own unique color and style).

Monday, 12 November 2018

Marvel Comics Chairman Emeritus and Generalissimo, Stan Lee, held court earlier in the same room, to an enraptured audience of all ages, who stepped up to right and left microphones
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Legendary Marvel Universe creator Stan Lee has died at the age of 95.

Lee, along with Jack Kirby were responsible for many of the original Marvel Comics’ characters, such as The Fantastic Four, The Avengers, and X-Men, etc.

Although Stan Lee is not necessary a musician, many singers and songwriters have been influenced by Stan Lee or many of his creations. For example, Joe Satriani’s classic album Surfing with the Alien features Stan and Jack’s Silver Surfer on his cover. Or bands like The Ramones covering the Spider-Man theme song, etc.

Saturday, 10 November 2018

Pathfinder: Kingmaker is not out yet, but I was so excited about this game coming out on GOG that I pre-ordered it. This game is based on the Pathfinder tabletop game, which was and offspring of Dungeon and Dragons…

Internet connection required: For piracy issues, Blizzard requires you to log into their server (battle.net) to authenticate the game that you bought. If you're not online, you can't play your single-player
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Tip: If you want to grow your iTunes library on the cheap, you can do the Vudu to Go conversation with 10 Blu-Ray Discs for $10 ($1 per film). Once you have the HD Digital Copy
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With China’s Singles’ Day (or 光棍节 / Guanggun Jie) (11/11) here and United States’ Black Friday (11/22) coming up, we’re seeing huge savings on products across the board. While most of these items won't be on sale until the set dates, some retailers are already slashing prices this week in celebration.

Clearly you don’t have to spend any money, as some companies are just giving away stuff…. If you’re a Weekend Gamer like me, you’ll appreciate the free games. Even if you have no intention of playing these games, it’ll be good to have access to them if you decide to give it a go.

Microsoft's XBox is giving away a couple of free games.
The first is part of their free multiplayer celebration this weekend (November 8-11), you can grab PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (aka PUBG) and Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 (aka PES 2019) for free to all XBox Live members (not just Gold members).

Although you do own the game, it may be useless if you don't actually have Xbox Gold, since those games requires the subscription to play.

Also, Crackdown is free. The 2007 game can be played on both Xbox One (via backward compatibility) and Xbox 360, you can get it here microsoft.com.

With the free games from MicroSoft, I’d say they are winning. Sony is too cheap to give away any games on their popular PS4 (unless you pay for PlayStation Plus, of course).

Normally $10, this full concert movie Video Game Show — The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is currently free for a limited time. If you love the Witcher, as much as I do, you need to get this, especially for free.

The 90-min orchestra concert was filmed live during the Film Music Festival 2016 in Kraków, Poland.

Fairy Tail Season 1, Part 1 and Attack on Titan Season 1, Part 1, are both free on Vudu for a limited time. Obviously, they want you to buy Part 2 after you get hooked. You know what they say, the first taste is free…

Attack On Titan is actually a very popular anime and manga, so it’s actually worth checking out if you’re into anime.

Due to lack of funding, the Free Music Archive is going offline, its end date is currently November 16th. You can grab all the free music on the website before they migrate the content over to archive.org (where we store all our old W♥M podcasts).

Although FMA have been around since 2009, I’ve actually never heard of it until they announced they were going away.

Show up early to check out Ruby Boots; she was last seen in town on June 2018. Ruby is an Australian, but based in Nashville, Tennessee. Fans of Nikki Lane should take note, as Lane co-wrote/sang on some of her songs.
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Like the pink wave of the midterm elections a few days following, at a crowded First Avenue Mainroom in downtown Minneapolis, the night was completely owned by three “females”- “Ruby”, “Connie”, and “Shondra”.

The “Ruby” was mesmerizingly filled by Ruby Boots, a Perth, Australia by-way-of Nashville country/Americana/outlaw rock band led by the sassy and effervescent Rebecca “Bex” Chilcott, in support of their latest Bloodshot Records full-length, Don’t Talk About It … but talking about it was all most people in my vicinity were doing, after their powerful forty-minute opening set.

“This is a song about stalkers...three of them”, she said, launching into ‘Infatuation’ whose carefree strumming and uptempo countered any potentially dark lyrics. The new album’s title track was played next, making good use of slide and Chilcott’s appropriate verse, sung with a slight twang and reminding us that “our world's been divided, all that’s left are these hooks”.

‘I Am a Woman’ was done sparsely but empowered by a solo Chilcott, and the closing ‘Believe in Heaven’ turned all the amp volume up, with Chilcott and band optimistically taking us to “the edge of the world, wishing on a star”, leaving her admittedly in “the best mood ever”, and encouraging one and all to come say hello following the set.

“When a guy in Minnesota goes to one of our shows and tells his friends we were the best live band he saw in five years, we need to be back there again in six months. That’s all we got”, Low Cut Connie singer Adam Weiner told the Philadelphia Inquirer last fall, and that’s been the case since local record impresario GoJohnnyGo Kass first helped bring in the Philly band to town in early 2016.

Follow up gigs at increasingly larger rooms have only exponentially increased the local fan base and buzz, culminating in a memorable opening set in the heat and humidity of this past July’s Rock the Garden, a record store appearance just a few weeks later that transformed the retail outlet into the feel of a hot house juke joint, and this stomping eighty-minute good time, inside a crowded Mainroom.

Weiner wasted no time showcasing his piano acrobatics, dressed in bright red patterned jacket, white tank top, chain necklaces, and suspendered black pants, jumping on the top of his battered but still-warm sounding upright piano named “Shondra”(named after an elderly Atlanta stripper), stretching wide along the piano bench and pounding the keys like The Killer, Jerry Lee Lewis in his 50’s heyday.

“Come on, we gotta drink it up!” Weiner yelled, going into the band’s biggest hit to date, early on, ‘Boozophilia’ and most in the crowd took the hint, ordering another drink or two. The rest of the band (James Everhart; Will Donnelley; Larry Scotton; Lucas Rinz; and recent addition backup singer Saundra Williams) remained tight but loose, all clearly enjoying themselves and the night’s very responsive crowd.

The new albums come up in two parts on the band’s own label- Dirty Pictures (Parts 1 & 2) on the groups’ own Contender Records, but the live setting is really where the songs evolve and flourish.

Like Weiner’s picture on the show poster, the songs came rapidly and unrelenting, like a prize fighter landing uppercut after body blow after jab, with the crowd loving every minute and swinging and swaying along to their East Coast blend of rock, soul, blues, and bar/garage rock.

The late 70’s Alex Chilton cover of ‘Hey! Little Child’ especially went down especially well, with the call-and-response chorus yelled back to the band, Weiner climbing on the piano, and all the numerous Chilton and Big Star fans in the crowd, happily chanting along.

Williams then took everyone to church, taking lead with a rousing Brother Claude Ely cover as Weiner went on his knees while still playing the piano with head increasingly backwards as Williams’ voice soared into the rafters, letting loose a stray piece of confetti or two, to float down from a show probably weeks ago.

The encore began with a brand new song, ‘Wild Ride’ before the band paid musical tribute to two legends recently lost, Tom Petty with a driving ‘Free Girl Now’, and Prince, with their hyper cover of his ‘Controversy’ that almost demands you wear a seat belt before experiencing it live.

Heart Bones is kicking off their tour at the Turf Club in St Paul. This is the new project from local favorite Har Mar Superstar and Sabrina Ellis (of Sweet Spirit). The two met and became friends while touring in 2016, and we got a glimpse of the two on stage together in last year’s Sweet Spirit at the 7th Street Entry, when Har Mar showed up at their show.

With this new tour, billed as Heart Bones, the two will tackle playing and performing the Dirty Dancing soundtrack … which would include classic hits like “Hungry Eyes” and “Be My Baby”.

The husband & wife duo Closeness (Todd and Orenda Fink) to open. If you didn’t know, Todd Fink is the singer/writer for one of my favorite emo-dance band The Faint and Orenda. So if you like the sound of that… show up early to check out their set.

Also, Lazear (Howard Hamilton, Mark Sorvari, Emily Lazear, Tom Mooney) is on the bill.
I recognize Howard Hamilton’s name, he’s the guy with the million guitars from Red Pens.

Billed as co-headlining Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers with Lucy Dacus … but in reality this is the new project by the three girls as Boygenius. The supergroup will release their Boygenius EP on Matador Records on November 9th.

We’ve seen most of these strong singer/songwriter before, so this should be a really fun, and important, upcoming show.

Omaha’s Cursive will headline the Turf Club on November 17th.
The band’s latest Vitriola is out now on 15 Passenger.

We saw Cursive at the now-defunct 400 Bar in Mar 2012 and said, “I thought Cursive's singer Tim Kasher vocals came through loud and clear. Throughout Cursive's set, songs like "This House Alive", "Big Bang", "A Gentleman Caller", "The Cat and Mouse", etc., all blended together without any pause or breaks.”

Brett Dennen will be playing the Cedar on November 18th. We caught him in June 2016 and said, “Brett Dennen is a man with a lot of charisma. He came out bare feet and was just floating with energy. He had the crowd dancing and singing on cue. You can feel his emotion that he poured into these songs, and it was a lot of fun.”

Erin Rae will join the acclaimed singer-songwriter for this show. Originally Nick Mulvey was scheduled.

Influential post-rock duo El Ten Eleven (guitarist/bassist Kristian Dunn and drummer Tim Fogarty) is headlining the 7th Street Entry on November 15th in support of their new album Banker’s Hill (Topshelf Records).

Local bands Devata Daun and Grayshot will open. The latter features
brothers Aaron & Christian Ankrum. We saw them in August 2016 and said, “Typically, these guys are a trio but they recently added a keyboardist which seemed to add a lot of depth to their calming lo-fi pop sound”

As for
Devata Daun, we saw her in April 2018 and wrote that her music was “sweet, atmospheric songs from her album Look (Pytch Records)…”

shallou’s sold-out show at the 7th Street Entry is this Friday, November 16th.

Show up early to check out Australian artist, Japanese Wallpaper (aka Gab Strum) with his recent new hopeful song, “Fooling Around” (his first release in two and a half years). The song is out now via
Nettwerk Records.

Limited five CD set containing unreleased live material from the Australian gods of hard rock. Features full-length concert performances from the band's early '80s heyday
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We have just learned that Josh Fauver, the former bassist for Deerhunter, has died at the age of 39.
Pitchfork wrote that Fauver joined Deerhunter in 2004, “after the band’s original bassist Justin Bosworth died following a skateboarding accident.”

He stayed with Deerhunter until he left in 2012.

Also: Liam Anderson, who performs under the stagename Ranford Bigsby was allegedly killed by his close friend Matthew Flame in a fight, on the morning of November 4. Anderson was 26.

Anerson was following in the footsteps of his father, Gary “Angry” Anderson, the lead singer of rock band Rose Tattoo.

Rose Tattoo was currently on tour, but with the sudden departure of Angry Anderson, we think the tour will have to be postponed.